you guys keep talking about expectations as if there's some mythical being doling out what everyone should think a team should do.

if there's a difference between a team's actual performance and what you expected of them, it's quite likely you just set your hopes too high for a team that didn't address any of its problems and could be expected to regress on offense.

it's quite likely you just set your hopes too high for a team that didn't address any of its problems and could be expected to regress on offense.

No, they didn't address their major needs to the extent they should have (6th round CB, no DT in draft) but the thought was that with the core of the defense back in the LB corps and new blood in the secondary they would show enough improvement to hold the first half leads that would slip away in the 2nd half in 2011.

Instead, they appear to look exactly the same, if not worse than last season, and Beason has been a major disappointment.

Offensively, they appear to have gone away entirely from what made them successful last year, unnecessarily running a spread-option offense and refusing to establish the run. The ball was run a total of TEN times today. This, with one of the most expensive backfields in the league in Williams, Stewart, and Tolbert.) No, playcalling shouldn't be predicated on player salary, but if Chud's offensive plan doesn't rely on establishing the run, why were these signings/extensions made?

We are two 4th and 1 conversions away from being 3-2. It's downright maddening the way this team finds ways to lose games. That, IMO, is on coaching.

No, they didn't address their major needs to the extent they should have (6th round CB, no DT in draft) but the thought was that with the core of the defense back in the LB corps and new blood in the secondary they would show enough improvement to hold the first half leads that would slip away in the 2nd half in 2011.

It's almost as if investing as much as the Panthers have in their linebacking corps is.....not...a good idea?!?!?!?!?

This was very well written, and very much sums up how I'm feeling as a fan. It's a very hopeless feeling; and, maybe I'm forgetting some of the lowest times as a Panthers' fan, but I too can't remember ever feeling quite as down on the franchise. I think it's because there are plenty of personnel pieces in place to have a very good team, but just enough gaps to make sure that will never happen as a reality. And the play-calling of the last two weeks...oh, the play-calling. It's 4th and goal on the one, and Cam drops back and rolls around to pass? Franchise spends $50 Million on the running game, and tbey don't trust that $50 Million to convert you a 4th and goal on the 1? Same with last week; you don't trust your running game to convert a 4th and 1 for you that can lock up the game? Ron Rivera needs a new profession. He’s a nice guy, but overmatched as an NFL head coach.

I remember looking forward to seeing the team play every week, with the possible exception of the darkest days of the Seifert Era. But, even then, that season felt like an anomaly. I don't like the long-term trajectory of the franchise, nor do I like the in-game decision making. That's very disillusioning for a fan who is trying his best to stay loyal.

I’m kinda worried that we're becoming the Cleveland Cavaliers of the NFL. Maybe it's just a matter of time before Cam Newton unceremoniously dumps us on prime-TV for the Miami Dolphins.

[I do agree with those that say to take a deep/breath and go outside, it's just sports. But some of us take a lot of pride in our hometown team, and want to see them succeed. It's disappointing when they don't. ]

I really think we are becoming the new perpetual laughingstock of the NFL. Or at least one of them. Can't think of many teams that are worse.